Happy Birthday Elizabeth

On Thursday my beautiful, energetic first born turned 9.  Where has the time gone?  We had a fun day on Thursday going to the High Desert Museum, Pappy’s Pizza with friends, Karate classes, and Skippers for the much wanted bread bowl of clam chowder!  Finally we headed home for presents and cake.  What a fun day! 

Here are a few photos from the day.   

First thing in the morning.

 

I’m 9 today!

 

Sister Love!

Our trip to the High Desert Museum.

Digging for dinosaur bones.

Climbing the spider web.

 

What a  sweet girl.

 

Elizabeth’s Skipper’s bread bowl of clam chowder.

 

Tinkerbell cake.

SOOC Sunday

I love this girl!  Here is Bekah feeding Baby Baby (yes, she named the doll) her breakfast of eggs (and some type of beverage).  I guess it is important to accessorize to feed your baby!         

                                                 

Straight Out Of the Camera Saturday or Sunday (SOOC) is hosted by Slurping Life.  Simply post an unedited photo on your blog and link up here.  Have fun!

SOOC Saturday

Elizabeth, age 9 months

I love my thumb, my square blanket, my puppy (yellow), and my foot!  What a sweet baby.

Straight Out Of the Camera Saturday (SOOC Saturday) is hosted by Slurping Life.  Simply post an unedited photo on your blog and link up here.  Have fun!

It’s That Time of Year Again

Yes, it is April.  Supposedly it is spring, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by the weather (though our grass seems to know it is spring!).  Those things aside, it is the time of year where I get the overwhelming desire to plan our next school year!  (Yes, it is the simple things in life that make me happy.)

Here is the thing…I love to plan curriculum, research curriculum, make schedules, plan lessons…it is kind of addicting!  The thing I don’t like so much is the teaching part.  I don’t mind the teaching part, if I have kids that actually cooperate and there are no tears or bad attitude or flying pencils. THEN, I even kind of enjoy the teaching parts too. 

When they cooperate, they are pretty cute.

My goal this upcoming school year is to streamline our curriculum, get Bekah ready for Kindergarten, and have Elizabeth working at her true school level, not necessarily the grade she should be in.

We started this process with spelling.  Elizabeth is an amazing speller.  Often times her errors are only one letter within the word.  We have been going through, level by level, her spelling books.  This has been great, even though I have contemplated skipping a book or two.   Elizabeth loves spelling and the program we use.  We are currently using A Reason for Spelling. 

I originally picked this curriculum because I love the weekly stories that we read together.   I also love that the verse that goes along with the spelling program is also the verse used in A Reason for Handwriting.   However, since we often do more than one spelling lesson in a week this doesn’t usually work out too well.

The other day I gave Elizabeth the placement test for A Reason for Spelling.  She is currently working in Book D (4th grade).  She should be working in Book F (grade 6).  Come fall, this is where we will be, our last year of spelling.  She was a bit upset (because she likes the stories), so I told her she could just read the out of the teacher’s guides the stories she will miss (I already bought Book E) and she was okay with this. 

One subject down….many more to go.  Stay tuned for more posts about curriculum :)!  Up next, math….

Laundry

Oh, laundry…  What is there to say, it need to be done.  Really, I don’t mind DOING the laundry.  It is the folding and putting away part that I really dislike.  Okay, truth be told, I really don’t like the idea of folding laundry, but once I get started it is not so bad.  I really dislike putting away the laundry.

I make my own laundry soap.  Yes, I know you can buy it, but the stuff you can make is sooo much nicer, cheaper, and better for your body.  A batch lasts several months and does not really take much time to make.  Check out the recipe I use at Recipezaar.  I double the recipe and use a 5 gallon bucket with a lid.  For fabric softener I use white vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser.  About 1/4 cup and my clothes are as soft as soft can be without all the chemicals in commercial softener.  

Monday at our house is laundry day.  I do all of the laundry that is put in the dirty laundry baskets.  If it is not in with the dirty laundry it does not get washed and will not get  washed until the following Monday.   This has made the task of doing the laundry much more enjoyable. 

Tuesday I fold all of the laundry.  It probably takes 30-45 minutes to fold everything.  Well, almost everything.  Elizabeth needs to fold her own laundry.  If you saw her dresser drawers you would understand.  There was no point in me folding her laundry and her unfolding it to put it away….don’t ask, I don’t get it. 

Once all of the laundry is folded into individual baskets (we each have one and one for towels), everyone is in charge of putting away their own stuff.  Yes, even Bekah.  Yes, I know she is only 4, but she knows where her stuff goes, she can do it!  She carries the basket to her room herself and puts her stuff away.  I hang what needs to be hung up in the closet.   A job that should take about 15 minutes typically takes her about 45, but I don’t have to do it!